Naturwissenschaftliche Analysenvor- und frühgeschichtlicher Keramik II

Universitätsforschungenzur prähistorischen Archäologie

Band 216

Aus der Abt. Vor- und Frühgeschichtliche Archäologie der Universität Hamburg

2012

Verlag Dr. Rudolf Habelt GmbH, Bonn

2012

Verlag Dr. Rudolf Habelt GmbH, Bonn

Naturwissenschaftliche Analysenvor- und frühgeschichtlicher Keramik II

Methoden, Anwendungsbereiche, Auswertungsmöglichkeiten

Dritter und vierter internationaler Workshop für junge Wissenschaftlerinnen undWissenschaftler in Hamburg am 13. Februar 2010 und 5. Februar 2011

herausgegebenvon

Britta RammingerOle Stilborg

ISBN 978-3-7749-3810-6

Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen Nationalbibliografie.Detailliertere bibliografische Daten sind im Internet über <http: //dnb.d-nb.de> abrufbar.

Copyright 2012 by Dr. Rudolf Habelt GmbH, Bonn

VORWORTDER HERAUSGEBER

Die Reihe „Universitätsforschungen zur prähistorischen Archäologie“ soll einem in der jüngeren Vergangenheit entstandenen Bedürfnis Rechnung tragen, nämlich Ex-amensarbeiten und andere Forschungsleistungen vor-nehmlich jüngerer Wissenschaftler in die Öffentlichkeit zu tragen. Die etablierten Reihen und Zeitschriften des Faches reichen längst nicht mehr aus, die vorhandenen Manuskripte aufzunehmen. Die Universitäten sind des-halb aufgerufen, Abhilfe zu schaffen. Einige von ihnen haben mit den ihnen zur Verfügung stehenden Mitteln unter zumeist tatkräftigem Handanlegen der Autoren die vorliegende Reihe begründet. Thematisch soll darin die ganze Breite des Faches vom Paläolithikum bis zur Ar-chäologie der Neuzeit ihren Platz finden.

Ursprünglich hatten sich fünf Universitätsinstitute in Deutschland zur Herausgabe der Reihe zusammengefun-den, der Kreis ist inzwischen größer geworden. Er lädt alle interessierten Professoren und Dozenten ein, als Mither-ausgeber tätig zu werden und Arbeiten aus ihrem Bereich der Reihe zukommen zu lassen. Für die einzelnen Bände zeichnen jeweils die Autoren und Institute ihrer Herkunft, die im Titel deutlich gekennzeichnet sind, verantwortlich. Sie erstellen Satz, Umbruch und einen Ausdruck. Bei gleicher Anordnung des Umschlages haben die verschie-denen beteiligten Universitäten jeweils eine spezifische Farbe. Finanzierung und Druck erfolgen entweder durch sie selbst oder durch den Verlag Dr. Rudolf Habelt GmbH, der in jedem Fall den Vertrieb der Bände sichert.

Herausgeber sind derzeit:

Kurt Alt (Mainz) Peter Breuning (Frankfurt am Main)

Philippe Della Casa (Zürich)Manfred K.H. Eggert (Tübingen)

Clemens Eibner (Heidelberg)Frank Falkenstein (Würzburg)

Ralf Gleser (Münster)Bernhard Hänsel (Berlin)

Alfred Haffner (Kiel)Svend Hansen (Berlin)

Ole Harck (Kiel)Joachim Henning (Frankfurt am Main)

Christian Jeunesse (Strasbourg)Albrecht Jockenhövel (Münster)

Tobias L. Kienlin (Bochum)Rüdiger Krause (Frankfurt am Main)

Klára Kuzmová (Trnava)Amei Lang (München)Achim Leube (Berlin)

Andreas Lippert (Wien)

Jens Lüning (Frankfurt am Main)Joseph Maran (Heidelberg)Wilfried Menghin (Berlin)

Carola Metzner-Nebelsick (München)Johannes Müller (Kiel)

Ulrich Müller (Kiel)Michael Müller-Wille (Kiel)

Mária Novotná (Trnava)Bernd Päffgen (München)

Diamantis Panagiotopoulos (Heidelberg)Christopher Pare (Mainz)

Hermann Parzinger (Berlin)Margarita Primas (Zürich)

Britta Ramminger (Hamburg)Sabine Rieckhoff (Leipzig)

Wolfram Schier (Berlin)Heiko Steuer (Freiburg im Breisgau)

Thomas Stöllner (Bochum)Biba Teržan (Berlin)

Andreas Zimmermann (Köln)

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On the other side: A case of cultural encounter between the Pitted Ware Culture and the Battle Axe Culture in Eastern Sweden

OLE STILBORG (STUREFORS)

SummaryThe relationship between the contemporary Middle Neolithic B-cultures – the Pitted Ware Culture (PWC) and the Battle Axe Culture (BAC) – in SE Sweden is marked out by the fact that BAC-sherds are regularly found on PWC-sites. In order to get a better understanding of this phenomenon pottery from both cultures found in the same feature at the site of Havren has been analysed. The hypotheses that BAC-pottery made as a special product within the PWC would be made from the same clay as the PWC-pots could not be tested properly due to the fact that the PWC-pottery at Havren turned out to be non-local. That in itself gave a rare insight into the movement of pottery in prehistory.Keywords: Sweden, Middle Neolithic, Pitted Ware Culture, Battle Axe Culture, thinsection analysis

ZusammenfassungDie Beziehung zwischen den zeitgleichen, dem Mittelneolithikum B zuzurechnenden Kulturen, Grüb-chenkeramik und Streitaxtkultur ist in Südostschweden durch das regelmäßige Vorkommen von Keramik der Streitaxtkultur auf Fundplätzen der Grübchenkeramik gekennzeichnet. Um dieses Phänomen besser verstehen zu können wurde Keramik dieser beiden Kultureinheiten, die in einem Befund in Havren gemeinsam gefunden wurden, analysiert. Die Hypothese, wonach Keramik der Streitaxtkultur als be-sonderes Erzeugnis der Grübchenkeramik aus demselben Ton wie diese hergestellt wurde, konnte nicht adäquat getestet werden, da sich durch die Dünnschliffanalysen herausstellte, dass die in Havren gefun-dene Grübchenkeramik nicht lokalen Ursprungs ist. Diese Tatsache ermöglicht einen seltenen Einblick in die Mobilität von Keramik in der Vorgeschichte.Schlüsselworte: Schweden, Mittelneolithikum, Grübchenkeramik, Streitaxtkultur, Dünnschliffanalysen

Ole Stilborg is ass. prof in laboratory archaeology at Stockholm University and has worked with ceramics analysis as contract research since 1997. From 2009 the research has been conducted within the company SKEA (Stilborg Ceramics Analysis). Studies have been conducted in all periods of Scandinavian prehistory as well as outside Scandinavia. His special interests are in the Middle Neolithic B era and in technical ceramics.

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Introduction

In an article from 1996, A. Kriiska discuss-es the finds of Narva-type pottery, Typical Combed Ware pottery and Late Combed Ware pottery on a number of settlements at the low-er course of the Narva River in Estonia (KRI-ISKA 1996). All three types of pottery have been used – and presumably made – within the same sub-Neolithic economy dominated by hunting and fishing. All share a pointed base but differ in other shape-elements and in their decoration. The most interesting dif-ferences are to be found in the raw materi-als used for making these vessels. While the clay seems to be the same and most probably local, the tempering technologies are most varied. The Narva-type pottery is exclusively tempered with crushed shell and plant re-mains with parallels for example in pottery from Latvia (DUMPE ET AL. 2011). The Typical Combed Ware pottery is only tempered with crushed rock and, finally, in the Late Combed Ware pottery organic temper dominates oc-casionally combined with crushed rock and/or grog (KRIISKA 1996, 374 ff.). Among the three types, the Narva pottery has got the old-est C-14-dates from the middle of the 5th mil-lennium to the beginning of the 3rd and the relationship between the three types is seen as a development in pottery making over time influenced from the core area of the Comb Ware tradition (ibid, 379). However, the Late Combed Ware fusion of the organic temper-ing technology of the Narva pottery with the stone tempering tradition of the Typical Combed Ware points to at least some coexist-ence of two very different types of pottery on the same settlements. Examples like this of encounters between different technological traditions or different

cultural expressions in ceramic design carry a lot of potential for studies into the meaning and importance of the inner and outer design of pots. This is of course just one facet of prehistoric human life, but given the weight we put on pottery – especially Stone Age pottery – as cultural signifiers, it ought to be of central importance to culture histori-cal studies. In fact, several of these complex sites – in terms of culture or craft tradition – have attracted quite a lot of attention with Hamburg Boberg as one of the most famous examples (RAMMINGER 2012). While it is no wonder that chronological discussions and other source critical issues have played a major role in the discussions of these sites, it is also clear that we need to accept the exist-ence of complex sites and start to interpret their complexity.In his seminal work on the Battle Axe Culture in Southern Sweden, M. Malmer explained the find of the largest Battle Axe Culture (BAC)-settlement pottery material in Scania on a Pit-ted Ware Culture (PWC) site as the remains of two chronologically separate occupations on the same site (MALMER 1962, 38). As the number of PWC-occupations in south-eastern Sweden with finds of BAC-pottery have con-tinued to increase since then, the idea that the two different types of pottery could have ex-isted side by side and were possibly used by the same people started to form. This notion was strengthened by the definition of a group of pots called “the third group” incorporating in their design elements from both BAC and PWC (GRANER/LARSSON 2004; LARSSON 2009, 358). This was an indication that the two types of pottery not only existed side by side within the same society but that they were in-tegrated to the extent that their shapes later intertwined1. Given the rather few “pure”

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Köpingsvik

Havren,Kalmar

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Fig. 1: Map showing a part of south-eastern Sweden showing the location of Havren in the city of Kalmar on the mainland and the sites Köpingsvik and Ottenby on the island of Öland.

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BAC-settlement materials – especially rare in the southernmost part of Sweden – it is a quite logical thought that BAC and PWC could be two sides of the same society – two sides with each their markedly different buri-al rituals (for a thorough comparison of these rituals see LARSSON 2009, 264 ff.). However, BAC and PWC-pots are not only very differ-ent in the outer design but are generally made in different wares (HULTHÉN 1977; STILBORG 2005; BRORSSON ET AL. 2007; LARSSON 2009) and it is difficult to find ethnographic exam-ples of societies producing vessels in two basically different craft traditions. One such example is from the Baringo area in Kenya where potters cater to the needs of different cultural groups for different kinds of pottery (HODDER 1979). The analogy is, however, hampered by the market economy setting of the African example.

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Fig. 2: Diagram showing the variation in temper quality of analysed BAC-wares from two sites in Blekin-ge, southeastern corner of Sweden. The overlap between the two datasets is minimal. STILBORG 2005.

In order to move forward in this discussion, more studies of the specific relationship bet-ween BAC- and PWC-pottery in well inves-tigated, local settings are needed. The study of the Havren-finds presented here is a step in that direction.

The site and the research questions

Havren is the name of a housing block within the city of Kalmar on the east coast of south-ern Sweden (Småland district) and opposite the island of Öland (fig. 1). Excavations at Havren 2001 by the Kalmar County Museum revealed a number of structures containing stone artefacts, a small bone material and ca. 6 kilos of pottery (PETERSSON 2007, 7 ff.). Most of the pottery was in small fragments. Of the 670 sherds (>2 cm2), 11 were classified

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4

TS 1TS 2 TS 3

TS 4

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Fig. 3: Drawings of the sherds from A36, Havren that were chosen for analysis.

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as belonging to BAC-pots, one as Early Neo-lithic Funnelbeaker and the rest as remains of PWC-pots. The small pit A36 contained a total of 36 sherds and a number of fragments. Three small sherds could be attributed to BAC-pots on the basis of their comb-made deco-rations. Choosing a study material from this small context made it possible to put a very spe-cific question to what could be assumed to be contemporary pottery of both BAC and PWC type. An earlier study of BAC-pot-tery from settlement/non-burial contexts in-cluding material from PWC-settlements in Scania and Blekinge (southernmost Sweden) showed fairly distinct differences in the tem-per qualities between sites indicating local productions with local craft traditions (fig. 2; STILBORG 2005). Judging from these results, it is a reasonable supposition that both PWC and BAC-pottery in the Havren pit could be locally produced and thus subject to the same local raw material conditions. Given this, the theory that the PWC-community had produced both types of pottery, would be strengthened, if the same type of clay had been used for both types although almost all other aspects of the wares were different. At least I expected to be able to isolate a local production of PWC-pottery using a restrict-ed range of clay types (at least similar to the results from studies on Öland – STILBORG 2006) and compare that to the choice of clay in the BAC-pottery. Of the 36 sherds in A36, ten were chosen for TS-analysis (LINDAHL 2002, 47). Three of these are determined as BAC-pots (fig. 3). Their di-minutive size does not allow a closer definition according to the type-groups A-N established by Malmer (1962). Seven sherds were deter-

mined as PWC on the basis of their different decorations. The samples were chosen so as to cover the macroscopically visible ware varia-tion among the PWC pottery in A36.

Results

Already a first look at the thin sections of the ten samples made it clear that the ques-tions for this material had to be revised. The ware variation among the PWC sherds was out of the ordinary even for a craft tradition that seems to like testing different temper-ing materials. On the other hand, the wares of the three BAC-samples were of the clas-

Fig. 4: Microscope photos of the wares of TS 1 and TS 2 tempered with grog containing fragments of crushed rock (granite?) and in one instance an

older grog grain. Crossed nicols.

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sic grog-tempered variety (fig. 4). Keeping in mind that grog grains are difficult to observe even in a thin section and that depending on the relative firing temperatures of grog and grog tempered ware the grains may be totally invisible, the Havren sherds appear to have been tempered with around 20 % (volume) of grog (max. grain size 2-2.4 mm). The ware also contains angular granite fragments with a maximum grain size of 1.6 mm – a few of them lodged inside grog grains which shows that they represent the temper in the ware that was crushed for use as grog. However, in TS 1 there is even one example of a grog grain containing an older grog grain. Thus this par-ticular ware may have been tempered with crushed fragments of a ware tempered with grog from a granite tempered ware – i.e. three generations of ware in one.

The three BAC samples are made of quite similar, well sorted, fairly coarse, silt rich clays. The fact that the image analysis (Kon-tron KS300) showed TS 2 to have a clearly higher content of the fraction < 0.1 ≥ 0.01 mm than the other two and this ware also differs in mineralogical composition means that the three samples represent at least two vessels (fig. 5). The closest parallels to the Havren BAC wares among other analysed material in southern Sweden we find at the site of Valje in western Blekinge (KNARRSTRÖM ET AL. 2000, 35 ff.), Björkärr in eastern Blekinge (HAGELQUIST/WIDENBORG 1977) and at Ot-tenby Kungsgård on Öland (PAPMEHL-DUFAY 2006, 179). The sherds which derive from different types of vessels according to Malm-ers system (STILBORG 2005) are made of silty clays similar to the Havren-samples and tem-

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Fig. 5: Diagram showing the results of an image analysis of thin sections of the Havren wares. Here the number of grains < 0.1 ≥ 0.01 mm are related to the total area in mm2 of these grains. Legend. STY

(Battle Axe Culture), GR (granite), SA (sand), SST (sandstone), C (limestone), G (grog), B (bone).

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pered with grog from rock-tempered wares (fig. 6). The temper qualities (amount of tem-per and max. grain size) are also comparable. The ware in the sherd from Ottenby presents

the closest match with a maximum grog grain size of 1.4 mm and a maximum granite grain size of 1.6 mm (fig. 7). As in TS 1, Havren one grog grain in the Ottenby ware contained an older grog grain.

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Fig. 6: Diagram of the tempering quality of analysed BAC wares from the sites of Valje and Björkärr in Blekinge and Ottenby on Öland compared to the Havren BAC wares.

Fig. 7: Microscope photo of BAC- ware (TS 23) found at Ottenby, Öland. The ware is tempered with grog containing fragments of crushed rock (granite?) and in one instance an older grog

grain. Crossed nicols.Fig. 8: Microscope photo of poriferous ware

(TS 4). Parallel nicols.

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Although PWC-pottery, especially in the classical form called Fagervik III, is known to use a rather large selection of tempering ma-terials (LARSSON 2009, 209 f.), the variation presented by the seven samples from Havren is extraordinary. Six or seven different ware types could be discerned.

Poriferous ware

A small unornamented sherd was made of a medium coarse, silty and fine-sandy clay with a few diatoms and tempered with ca. 13 % (vol.) of crushed limestone, max. grain 2.1 mm (TS 4, fig. 8). Erosion had dissolved several of the limestone grains producing the poriferous character of the ware. The ware even contains several dark areas – up to 2 mm in size – that are best explained as grog grains. The amount is at least 6 % vo-lume. The ware is thus most likely tempered with a combination of crushed limestone and grog or with grog coming from a limestone tempered ware. Poriferous ware is a well-known phenome-non within the PWC-pottery (LARSSON 2009, 203 f. and 339; HULTHÉN 1998, 31; PETERSSON 2005, 6; YTTERBERG 2007, fig.10; BRORSSON ET AL. 2007, 420). In some cases the dissolved temper has evidently been limestone (ibid; STILBORG 2006) while in other cases it has been possible to determine the disappeared temper as crushed bone (especially at the site of Brännpussen, Uppland; BRORSSON ET AL. 2007, 420 f.). At the site of Hedningahällan in Helsingland, several wares were tempered with a combination of crushed bone and grog (ibid, 419; BRORSSON 2000) and at the site of Ire on Gotland one analysed ware was tem-pered with a combination of limestone and

Fig. 9: Microscope photo of sand tempered ware (TS 5). Crossed nicols.

grog (19 % volume, 2.5 mm max grain) like the Havren example HULTHÉN 1997). These parallels are of course too few and too far apart to give any indication of a possible ori-gin. However, we may rule out Gotland, since the Havren vessel was not made of calciferous clay, which is the only clay type available on this island.

Sand tempered ware

Another undecorated sherd (TS 5) and a sherd decorated with scattered, short vertical strokes (TS 9, fig. 3) were both tempered with a coarse, badly sorted sand consisting of sub-rounded grains of granite and various kinds of sandstone (fig. 9). The amounts of temper were calculated at 12 and 15 % respectively with maximal grain sizes of 2.1 and 3.2 mm. The clays were of different quality and origin. The TS 5-sample was made of rather fine, somewhat silty clay while the TS 9-sample was made of a medium coarse clay, rich in silt and sand, and containing diatoms and sponge needles (fig. 10, FROST 2001). This indicates

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that the clays come from different clay beds despite the similar tempering technology.Similar coarse sand was used as temper in four out of 51 analysed wares from the site of Köpingsvik and in two out of 24 analysed wares from the site of Ottenby – both on the

island of Öland (STILBORG 2006). In addition, one of the samples from each of the Öland sites is made from diatom-bearing clay like Havren TS 9. In terms of temper quality, the TS 5-sample matches the Öland samples very well (fig. 11). Although wares with a similar tempering have been found f. x. at Alvastra in Östergötland (HULTHÉN 1998, Tab. IIa), the closest parallels are found on Öland.

Sandstone tempered ware

A sherd (TS 7) ornamented with an engraved fish-bone pattern (fig. 3) was made from a fine, silty clay rich in diatoms and with a large con-tent of small plant fragments. This clay was tempered with 17 % (vol.) crushed sandstone with a maximum grain size of 3.6 mm (fig. 12). The combination of diatoms and plant

Fig. 10: Microscope photo of diatom in TS 9. Parallel nicols.

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Fig. 11: Diagram of the tempering quality of analysed wares from Havren, Köpingsvik and Ottenby tempered with sand (including granite and sandstone grains). A few of the wares are made from diatom

bearing clays (D).

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fragments in the clay indicates an origin in a postglacial environment. Pending a proper diatom analysis (HÅKANSSON/HULTHÉN 1986), the diatom fauna in TS 7 seems quite similar to what was found in 14 of the 51 analysed wares from Köpingsvik, Öland and a majori-

ty of the Köpingsvik wares (26 samples) were also tempered with crushed sandstone (fig. 13; STILBORG 2006). Nine Köpingsvik samp-les presented a combination of diatom-bear-ing clay and sandstone tempering. Although, as is shown in fig. 13, the temper quality of the Havren sample deviates somewhat from the main variation at Köpingsvik, the latter is still the closest parallel to the Havren ware.

Granite tempered “Ottenby clay”

A sherd with one large impression and a num-ber of rows of small, round impressions (TS 8, fig. 3) has been made from very special and characteristic clay. The relatively fine clay contains a large amount of small, mica-rich clay pellets and rounded fragments of clay stone, silt stone and sandstone (fig. 14). Si-

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Fig. 12: Microscope photo of sandstone tempered ware (TS 7). Crossed nicols.

Fig. 13: Diagram of the tempering quality of analysed wares tempered with sandstone from Havren (TS 7) and Köpingsvik. Ca. 1/3 of the Köpingsvik-samples are made from diatom bearing clays.

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Fig. 15: Diagram of the tempering quality of wares made from nodule rich clays. The samples come from Havren (TS 8) and Ottenby.

Fig. 14: Microscope photo of granite tempered ware made from a clay rich in nodules of varying

sizes and complexity (TS 8). Crossed nicols.

milar clay had been used for nearly half of the analysed PWC-samples from the site of Ottenby, Öland and also appears in six of the samples from Köpingsvik (STILBORG 2006, 301 f.). The Havren sample has been tempe-red with 10 % crushed granite with a maxi-mum grain size of 3.5 mm. Only three of the Ottenby samples of similar clay are granite tempered, while others have been tempered with granitic sand. One of the tempered Ot-tenby samples has a tempering quality similar to the Havren example (fig. 15). The decorati-on on the Havren-sherd also has a parallel in the Ottenby material (TS 22, PAPMEHL-DUFAY 2006, 206). This sherd is also granite temper-ed but made from another type of clay.None of the six Köpingsvik samples were granite tempered and Ottenby is thus the clo-sest parallel.

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Granite tempered coarse clay

The sample sherd TS 6, with a more com-plex ornamentation (fig. 3) has been made from a coarse, unsorted, sandy clay temper-ed with an additional 21 % (vol.) of crushed granite with a maximal grain size of 3 mm (fig. 16).Granite tempered wares are common in PWC-pots – more so in the earlier Fagervik II-types and less in the later Fagervik III-IV-types (LARSSON 2009, 203). The combination with coarse clay is more uncommon but is known from a number of sites in Östergöt-land and on Öland (HULTHÉN 1998, 18; PAP-MEHL-DUFAY 2006, 204).

Granite tempered coarse clay with diatoms

The sample TS 10 is a rim sherd decorated with a few round impressions (fig. 3). This, probably small, vessel has been made from a coarse, unsorted clay rich in silt and fine sand and containing some diatoms and spongia needles. The ware was tempered with 11 %

Fig. 16: Microscope photo of ware consisting of a granite tempered, coarse clay (TS 6). Crossed

nicols.

Fig. 17: Microscope photo of bone fragment in the ware of TS 10 (granite tempered, coarse clay).

Parallel nicols.

(vol.) of crushed granite with a maximal grain size of 2.7 mm. Two bone fragments (the largest 3.5 mm) had also entered the ware either by chance or as additional temper (fig. 17). Singular bone fragments have also been found in three samples from Ottenby, Öland – two of the samples were stone tempered and one without added temper. It is impossible to rule out the possibility that the bone fragments may just be accidental pollutions from the environment where the pots were made. How-ever, at sites like Bollbacken and Brännpussen in eastern central Sweden, combinations of stone and bone temper are regularly occurring (LARSSON 2009, 210; BRORSSON ET AL. 2007, 419 f.) while bone fragments are absent from analysed wares of other types of Neolithic pottery on mainland Sweden. On the other side of the Baltic Sea, we find an older organic tempering tradition – f. x. in the Narva Culture mentioned above – occasionally also including bones. The few bones in TS 10 could be a faint echo of this tradition.The coarse, unsorted clays used for this ware and the ware of TS 6 clearly stand out, which means that they have a very different origin

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although it is not possible to say how far apart the clay beds for the finer and coarser clay qualities could have been (fig. 5).

Vessels from afar?

It is a traditional – and normally sound – lo-gic, that the largest and technically most homo-genous group of wares represent the local pro-duction in a settlement pottery assemblage. If we apply that to the samples from Havren, we end up with the BAC-pottery as the most like-ly candidate. The image-analysis of the finer non-plastic inclusions places the BAC-samp-les in a reasonably tight group (fig. 5) which also shares the same temper type and has si-milar temper qualities (fig. 2). The samples that really stand out and could be suspected to

be non-local are TS 6 and TS 10 of coarse un-sorted clays (fig. 5). However, we also know that PWC-pottery makes up the majority of the ceramic finds and that temper diversity is quite common in PWC-pottery. As already indicated earlier in the text the PWC-sites at Köpingsvik and Ottenby on Öland could offer a solution. Sample TS 8 has been made from a clay that is not only very characteristic for the pottery production at Ottenby, but also of such a poor quality that it would only have been chosen by a potter with a very restricted access to suitable clays as is the case on southern Öland. The connection with Ottenby is strengthened by the close similarity between the BAC-wares from Havren and the analysed BAC-sherd from Ottenby. Most of the other PWC-wares from Havren have more or less close

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F/M-Nat

Fig. 18: Histogram presenting the different identified PWC-ware types among the samples analysed from Köpingsvik, Havren and Ottenby. The parallels to Havren ware types on the two Öland sites are marked out with connecting lines. In order to simplify the clay-variation has been divided into F/M (fine-

medium), C (coarse) and Ot (nodule rich Ottenby clay). The temper types are Nat (natural temper), Gr (granite), SST (sandstone), SA (sand), L (limestone) and SC (schist).

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parallels in wares found either at Köpingsvik or Ottenby or at both sites (fig. 18). Given the variety of wares on both these Öland sites, it is reasonable to ask whether the Havren pottery could not have come from another as yet unknown PWC-site on Öland? A simple statistic where the number of ware types for each site is divided by the number of samples analysed gives results of 0.2 and 0.4 for Köpingsvik and Ottenby but 0.8 for Havren – i.e. a clearly higher degree of variation. This makes it rather unlikely that the Havren pottery should derive from just one settlement site on Öland. Another reasonable objection to the idea of the Havren pottery having been transported across the sound from Öland is that analyses of potte-ry from the other PWC-sites on the mainland coast (PETERSSON 2005; 2007) are missing so far. It is possible that the results of such analy-ses will make the picture even more complex, but I do not think that they will change the basic assumption that pottery from Öland at some point in time was deposited at Havren. Earlier on, analyses of some PWC-sherds with deviating decoration found on the Ottenby site made it highly probable that these vessels had been brought to Öland from the mainland, possibly all the way from Scania (PAPMEHL-DUFAY 2006, 189; STILBORG 2006, 304 f.). This observation strengthens the theory that pots were indeed transported in this period. I think we can readily dismiss the idea that these fair-ly heavy containers were used solely to hold goods that were exchanged or traded across the sound. It is far more reasonable to believe that they were brought along by people from the place where they were made as personal tools or containers. The reason could be a marriage that caused one of the couple to move across the sea carrying a personal pot with him/her.

This has been suggested as an explanation for a pot of non-calciferous clay on the Ire-ce-metary on Gotland (which has only got cal-ciferous clays; HULTHÉN 1997). It is difficult, however, to explain the multitude of different wares at the Havren site solely with marriage alliances. It seems far more logical to assume that Havren – unknown for how long – func-tioned as a meeting place for people from Öland and possibly from the mainland. A very interesting aspect is that a major regional divi-sion within the Pitted Ware Culture between a southern and a northern group is thought to lie right here (LARSSON 2009, 341). The Ottenby site is attached to the southern group charac-terized by large irregular/rectangular pits, rare comb stamp decoration and few instances of calcareous temper while the Köpingsvik site is referred to the northern group with round/conical pits, common comb stamp decoration and common use of calcareous temper. What better location for a meeting place than at the very border between two subgroups of the same culture?

New light on the relationship PWC-BAC

The main question to the material from Hav-ren concerned the relationship between the BAC and the PWC pottery. Although the technological variation of the latter turned out to be far greater than expected, the BAC wares still stand out as a separate production with its own choice of clay and strict rules for tempering. On the other hand, Havren also provided yet another example of grog temper in a PWC-ware thereby further weakening one of the major differences between BAC and PWC pottery making. The latest two mo-nographs on the Battle Axe Culture and the

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start of the period called Middle Neolithic B together provide the problem with a new geographical outline (BRINK 2009; LARSSON 2009). From the traditional belief that every-thing has its origin in the South (i.e. Scania) and spreads northwards, Eastern Central Sweden is now suggested as the core area that received ideas and/or people from the East and from where the Battle Axe Culture spread westwards and southwards (LARSSON 2009, 409 f.). This suggests a later arrival of full scale BAC in Scania which fits the results of MNB-research in western Scania very well (BRINK 2009, 262 ff.). Larsson suggests that the BAC-group is formed by people born within the Pitted Ware Culture who decided to break out and form their own society vi-talized by the new eastern contacts and the European Corded Ware network. This expla-nation would make a continuation of contacts to the Pitted Ware Culture society very natu-ral and the existing PWC network along the coast of south-eastern Sweden could actually have functioned as a mediator for the spread of BAC southwards to Scania.This still leaves the concrete question what the BAC vessels (or sherds) are doing on the PWC-settlements? Are they saved because of their aesthetic qualities or are they used for special things? How deeply imbedded in the PWC-society are they?An interesting parallel to the combination of vessels with different design is found at Bellbeaker-settlements in Northern Jutland, Denmark (PILAR PRIETO-MARTINEZ 2008). Pi-lar Prieto-Martinez identifies four different categories of pottery – simple, undecorated; vessels decorated with horizontal furrows, bellbeakers and vessels with mixed bellbea-ker/local decoration – that coexists in various combinations on a number of settlements

(ibid, 125). No technological analyses have been performed but all four categories are interpreted as local productions (ibid, 124). Pilar Prieto-Martinez explains the different vessel types with different functions and the varying societal status of the settlements and of the singular farms within the settlements (ibid fig. 16 & 17, 139 ff.). Even if the number of BAC-vessels in the PWC-assemblages seems small, the average number of vessels on pure BAC-settlements is not larger nor the types different (STILBORG 2005). Few lipid studies have been performed on BAC-vessels. One vessel from the PWC-settlement Björkärr, Blekinge had been heated but contained no identifiable lipids (L. Pap-mehl-Dufay pers. com.). The deposition of the BAC-sherds in relation to the PWC-mate-rial on the PWC-settlements gives no clues to the function of the BAC-pots either. The fact that the Havren BAC-pots may have come from Öland as well or at least were part of the transference of PWC-pottery across the sound does indicate that the BAC-pots were indeed closely integrated into the PWC-so-ciety. Given the close contacts between the cultures assumed by LARSSON (2009), it is not unimaginable that the society delineated archaeologically through pottery, battle axes and burial customs and defined as the Battle Axe Culture lived both separately and within the Pitted Ware Culture society.

1 In addition group E in Malmers A-N-system for BAC-pottery encompasses vessels with horizon-tal dot-lines not unlike the ornamentation found on PWC-vessels (LARSSON 2009, 125).

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Address:

Dr. Ole StilborgNäckrosvägen 142S-59054 StureforsSwedenskea@stilborg.se